Release Life's Rapture
by monsterXmash
Summary: A young Roman woman of note seeks out a former champion of Capua and finds more than she bargained for. :Gannicus / OFC:
1. mala tempora currunt

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 1: _mala tempora currunt _

_"Bad Times Are Upon Us"_

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><p><em>"Let all of life be an unfettered howl. Like the crowd greeting the gladiator. Don't stop to think, don't interrupt the scream, exhale, release life's rapture."<em>

- Vladimir Nabokov -

-x-X-x-

"You watch them closely. Do these men unnerve you?"

Alexa faced her inquisitor, the touch of his whisper still soft on her ear, and smiled. She turned in his arms, his fingertips firm on her hip, and the girl placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Who should I fear but the gods when in your embrace?" she asked, then looked back at the captives. Her smile faltered as she watched the beaten and broken men who were knelt upon the hard marble floor, chained to one another, while the others in the room made merry in celebration. "I pity them," she continued and turned her attention back to her betrothed.

She knew her words were a mistake as she felt the man's fingers dig into her hip. He brought Alexa closer in what would seem as an affectionate embrace, but the look on his face told otherwise. He brought his hand up and caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Pity?" he hissed. "You pity them?"

The girl softly shook her head. "Seppius, please -"

He ignored her appeal and quit her side, instead walking to captured slaves. "Death is but a day from them, yet the men still eye us as prey!" he announced loud enough for the others close by to hear.

"The arena awaits them," Alexa heard from behind her, but she could not turn from Seppius' gaze. A fire burned in his eyes that the girl had not yet learned to extinguish and she cursed herself for fanning the flames.

Seppia walked closer to her brother and stopped by Alexa's side. "It will be a day etched in memory," she said, and only then did their contact break. Seppius turned to his sister with furrowed brow. "I cannot wait to see their blood spilled upon the sands."

"Nor I," he countered, "but should they not fall here? In the very place where they robbed our beloved cousin Sextus of his life!"

Alexa watched as her own brother handed Ilithyia his cup and made his way over to Seppius. Gaius clasped him on the shoulder, a display of sympathy made only for show, she knew, and attempted to agitate rising tempers.

"A man dearly missed," he commented. "It is a pity he shall not be honored this night."

"A _pity_, yes," Alexa said, aware too late that Seppius would undoubtedly acknowledge the fact that she had pitied many men that day, but she continued. She took her place beside her husband-to-be and wrapped an arm around his elbow. "Though, would the greater honor not be before all of Capua?"

Both her brother and her betrothed stared hard at Alexa, but she only gave them a smile. She heard Varinius begin to speak, the room's attention now on him, so she placed a hand on Seppius' chest and spoke softly to only him. "Much blood has already been spilled in this house," she recounted. "And a pleasant night can quickly turn ugly. Do not let emotions get the better of you."

The corners of Seppius' lips turned up in smile, but his jaw still clenched, and Alexa knew that this was not over. "We will have discussion later."

The couple turned when Gaius once again began to speak. "Varinius has seen fit to give us a taste of blood yet to come. A single man to be sacrificed to this house where so many lives were stolen by Spartacus and his jackals. To be chosen by its former domina, the gods themselves guiding her hands."

The Romans around the room clapped in approval at the suggestion, but Alexa shook her head. "This is unwise," she whispered, but Seppius demanded that she still herself.

"Go to your quarters," he commanded. "I will be with you presently."

-x-X-x-

The solitude of her room gave Alexa comfort, though thoughts of the events transpiring below did what they could to dampen contentment. The music could not be heard, but felt - the vibration of tiles underfoot sent soft tremors through her body, as did the sporadic cheers of the Romans.

Her stola was quickly discarded, replaced by her night robes, and she waited. _Be sweet_, she reminded herself. _Be humble. Be the dutiful wife. _

The door opened and Alexa stood up to greet her guest. They made their way toward each other silently and the girl recieved Seppius in her arms. "Apologies," she whispered into the hollow of his throat, and gave the flesh a delicate kiss.

He gently tugged the girl's obsidian locks, prompting her to tilt her head up and look him in the eye. "You think I can be so swayed by fluttering lashes?" he asked, his voice smooth and deep. He allowed his hands to wander down the length of her neck and across her breast to find their place on her hips. "You think your lips so ambrosial that I would forget defiance?"

Alexa took the man's hands in her own. "No, Seppius, I only wish to make amends." She brought his hands up to her lips, but quickly released them when she noted the stain of blood upon his flesh.

Seppius laughed and turned from the girl. "It is a good thing you did not participate in events. You would have _pitied_ the man."

Alexa's cheeks grew hot as Seppius continued to chuckle. He meant to shame her for her weakness, but it only ignited her rage. "We are all fools," she said. "We cage men like animals and then punish them when their hearts seek freedom outside of their bars. Do you not ever wander if we are the ones who provoked this?"

"My cousin Sextus -"

"You care nothing of your cousin," Alexa interjected, "only that his name gives weight to your cause!"

Seppius grabbed the girl's jaw with his hand and brought her face close to his own. He stared at her for a moment, dark eyes boring into her blue, before speaking. "You will learn to hold your tongue if you are to be my wife." His tone was calm and fluid, and it alarmed her. "Do you understand?"

Alexa nodded her head, and the man smiled sweetly down at her. He released her jaw from his grasp and stroked her hair with tender touches. "It is fear that moves your words," he whispered. "All of Rome is in fear, but I would not have it so." The young Roman leaned down and pressed his lips against the girl's. "Who should you fear but the gods when you are in my embrace?"

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><p><strong>This was just an introductory chapter, and I promise the story will get better. Please review and tell me what you think. Both criticism and compliments are always welcome. Thank you!<strong>


	2. carpe noctum

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 2: _carpe noctem_

"Seize the Night"

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><p>The midday sun was unrelenting in its severity, bearing down upon the shoulders of those who contributed to the swarming Capua streets. The air was thick with aroma - the smell of oils, sweat, piss, and meat overwhelming. Alexa stood among a lightly treaded path, away from the density of the bustle, inspecting a necklace held out to her by a shopkeeper. Her attendants stood behind her - one to carry the parasol that cast shade and gave her reprieve, the other following as an order from Seppius, a soldier who would act as an escort.<p>

"Ah, Alexa, you sparkle amongst the dust of this market. How Seppius lets such a jewel out of his sight is unbeknownst to me."

The girl turned away from the stall and smiled when she spotted the speaker. "Good Mercato, you flatter," she said, and placed a chaste kiss on either one of the lanista's cheeks. "What errand allows me to bask in your presence?"

The man's face quickly took on a rather satisfied visage, and he took the girl gently by the crook of her elbow, leading her away from the booth. "You are the only one I will tell," he explained to Alexa in little more than a whisper. He turned towards her and crossed his arms over his chest, shoulders drawn back boldly, making the girl eager to hear his secret - and he did not disappoint. "I have secured Gannicus for the games tomorrow."

"Gannicus?" Alexa's eyes widened in surprise. "What prompts his return to the arena?"

The lanista chuckled at the girl's awe. "To put to death the men who so shamed his former ludus," Mercato told her, then looked past his companion and extended his arms outward, smiling even broader as he did so. "And who better but a son of the gods?"

Alexa turned with curiosity and caught sight of an approaching man. For a moment she felt a fluttering in her chest as she watched him walk towards her with slow, sauntering steps. The young Roman slid her tongue over her parched lips, suddenly aware of how dry the air was - how dry and how_ hot_. Curse the damned sun that sought to punish them after the Bringer of Rain departed! But oh, how the blazing rays only illuminated the man, embracing him in a golden glow.

Alexa replied to Mercato, correcting his inaccuracy, but never taking her eyes off of the former champion as he came to a halt before them. "Son? I heard that he himself was a god." She smiled at the Celt.

"Embellishments, truly," the golden man replied. He took the girl's hand and held it in his own, allowing his rough fingertips to linger on the soft flesh before pressing his lips against it. She felt small in his grasp, and relieved when he released his grip.

When had she stopped breathing?

"How humble he is!" Mercato exclaimed with a laugh and the men clasped each others' arms in greeting. "Tales of the prowess of Gannicus yet fill the air, rivaling those of Heracles himself."

Alexa's eyes followed the former gladiator's hand as he ran it through his tussled locks. His long fingers pulled at the roots, then smoothed the hair back down. "Fortune favors you, for unlike Heracles, it is not immortality I seek."

The lanista clasped him on the shoulder and drew him close. "Confide in me desires and I shall seem them well sated. Coin? Clothes?"

With a mischievous glint in his eye, Gannicus glanced at the girl, then back to Mercato. He lowered his voice to speak, but smiled all the same. "Tonight, I am for wine and the embrace of questionable women."

Alexa let out a coy laugh. "I will let men have their talk," she said. "Mercato, it has been a joy as always." The girl gave him a parting kiss on the cheek, then turned to the other man. "Gannicus, it will be a pleasure to finally see you upon the sands."

He beamed at her, a swaggering smirk that no doubt brought women to their knees. She knew, for she felt her own legs growing weak. "The pleasure is all mine."

-x-X-x-

Closed off from the rest of the rooms by only a thin curtain was a chamber that contained a single man. A girl watched him, unsure as to whether or not she should complete her task. It was not too late - she could still turn away - but she had already come so far. She moved the curtain aside and took a step into the room, but the man did not move. Did he know she was there?

His hair, like spun gold, glimmered in the firelight, his flesh as well as he lifted a cup to his lips and a scarred shoulder caught the brilliance of the blaze. He placed the cup back down and leaned forward, pressing his hands against the trundle before him, and arched his back in a languid stretch, the muscles flexing beneath tan flesh.

Alexa took another step forward. "Gannicus?"

He looked over his shoulder. "Who asks?"

"Alexa." The girl removed her hood and walked to stand in front of the man. Now alone with the former champion, she lacked the confidence she had earlier that day, unsure now of her words or her true purpose for that matter. "We spoke in the market."

Gannicus snickered. "And you seek me out once more?"

"I seek but a word -"

This time the man let out a hardy laugh and she could tell that he was more than a little drunk on the cheap wine. "You do not find yourself in a place like this for mere words."

Alexa stood silent and offended, cursing herself for even leaving the safety of her brother's newly acquired villa. Already she knew that this man would give her no answers, but she would not let her virtue be made into jest. "I am a woman of proper repute, and not one for the _fleeting pleasures_ of life."

The Celt crossed his arms. "Then why would a _proper_ woman such as you find herself in a whorehouse in the dark of night?"

The man unnerved her. His words shamed her. What would be thought of her, if anyone found out? Her reputation would be ruined, her brother's destroyed. But she was there and there was no turning back. "A question has been plaguing me," she told him, "and I seek resolution."

Gannicus retrieved his abandoned cup from the trundle and raised it to his lips, taking a deep swallow of its contents, then sat it back down again. He picked up a decanter and refilled the goblet, but left it sitting on the table. "Ask. Perhaps I have sufficient answer."

She had to take a deep breath before she could recite her question boldly, and for once, the man was caught off guard. "Why would you, Gannicus, the only man to have been freed by request of the crowd, volunteer as executioner? These men were your brothers, were they not? You, their champion."

The man took another drink of his wine. "In a life far removed from this one."

"Not so far," the girl countered, a new conviction in her voice. "You return to the arena but tomorrow and for what? Do you miss the chant of your name pounding in your ears? Do you miss the glory? The fame? Or do you desire more base reward? Coin, perhaps?"

Gannicus turned from the girl. "You would not understand such desire."

Alexa took another step towards the man and placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. She would not be dismissed. "You think not?"

Gannicus faced the girl once more, but only stared. The ill-fitting cloak hid her figure, but he remembered it well enough from the afternoon that only just past. She looked not like the buxom whores that he was so used to, but petite - he could almost call her delicate were it not for the Roman arrogance that hardened her. He breast had barely shown above the neckline of her bodice and the blue - _was it blue? yes, deep blue_ - stola had enveloped her well, fitting tight down the length of her body and flaunting the round curve of her hips. The man longed to take her in his arms and see just how fragile she truly was.

The girl tensed as Gannicus reached out and swept an ebony curl from her shoulder, grazing her neck with his fingertips as he did so. "Desire, Alexa, is the first time I entered the arena when it was yet a maiden. It was so young. So new." He stepped forward and his body was now flush against hers, and the man could feel her chest rise and fall in soft waves. Gannicus cupped her jaw in his hand, and ran his thumb across the girl's cheek until it found its way to the fullness of her lips. "I still remember the petals, red and soft, as they greeted me." The Celt leaned forward so that his stubbled cheek pressed against her satin one, and he continued, whispering gently in her ear. "And the sand - how fair it was. How smooth."

She closed her eyes as his fingers buried themselves in the hair at the nape of her neck. She shuddered as the other arm encircled her waist, pulling her against a growing hardness. Alexa's hands settled on the man's shoulders and she had to hold onto him lest she become too weak. A pulsing heat grew between her thighs and she knew that if he searched, he would find her wet with desire.

Gannicus placed his lips below her ear and she withheld a whimper, the forced motion making her quickly regain her senses, and she removed herself from the man's grasp. "I believe we have talked enough," she managed to say, though her words were soft and breathless.

The man leaned back against the trundle and drunk of his wine. Her inexperience was all too obvious. Her innocence was something to be coveted. "Did you find what you seek?" he asked, his voice a bit less smooth than he would have liked.

Alexa lifted the dark hood upon her head and straightened out the cloak with trembling hands that she hoped Gannicus did not notice. "No," she replied. "You would not understand such desire."

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><p><strong>Gratitude for the reviews! They are much appreciated!<strong>


	3. ad astra

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 3: _ad astra _

"To the Stars"

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><p>Alexa was grateful that the hood hid her flushed cheeks from the others in the room. Grateful that only she knew how warm her flesh was, how her heart still pounded in her chest. She inhaled the night air as she stepped outside - away from the smell of smoke and sex and sweat - and she smiled. The cool breeze kissed her flesh, soothing her clammy skin, so she loosened the fabric around her face . The young Roman look up at the waxing moon and the stars that surrounded it, and thought how different they looked than usual. She had never been outside the walls of a villa after nightfall, and how free it felt to walk the streets of Capua under the celestial lights. How utterly free -<p>

"She looks up to the heavens like a bird absent flight. Does the little one not know the night is full of dangers?"

The gruff voice startled Alexa, causing her to stumble for a moment before quickening her pace, keenly aware of the footsteps following behind her. She reached inside her cloak and gripped the knife that she had hidden, her palms sweaty and shaking on the small hilt. She focused on her feet against the hard dirt street. One foot in front of the other. Quickly. Quickly. Steady. Faster. She was almost running when she collided into a body that stepped out in front of her.

"Stay back!" she screeched as she regained her footing and pulled the knife from the folds of her garment. She held it out towards the stranger. "I have nothing of worth!"

Alexa inched away from the man, who took a step forward each time she took one back, but was seized from behind and slammed against a nearby wall. Her head cracked against the stone, her knife was lost in the fray, and the fear overtook her so that she could not even scream.

"Nothing of worth?" one of the men asked. She did not know which one it was, only that his breath reeked of wine and haphazard hygiene, and his hands pulled at her hood to remove it from her head. Alexa tried to turn her face away, pressing herself against the hard wall to further distance between the man and herself, but he snatched her chin and forced her to look at him. "You must have something to offer." The man ran his fingers up her canvas covered thigh. "You can sing for us, little bird."

"Do you fuck or talk, Crispus?" the other man growled.

Her attacker turned to companion. "Shut fucking mouth!" he yelled, and in that moment of inattention, Alexa brought her knee up between his legs. He grunted and grabbed himself to ease the pain, but did not let the girl loose. "Bitch!" he cursed and struck Alexa's face. "When cock is finished, my knife will find its place!"

The girl struggled to free herself from his grasp, but as she did so, the man's head was yanked back, then slammed into the wall beside her. Blood spattered on her face as his skull was bashed open, his head ramming into the stone again and again and once more.

His body dropped and Alexa stared down at the fallen man, his head a mess of brain and flesh and blood that crept toward her feet. Not but paces away another body was stiff in the dirt, only a black figure in the moonlight. When she looked back up, Gannicus stood before her.

"Are you mad?" he yelled and the girl flinched at the sound of his voice. The tears that she had been holding back spilled from her eyes, and she turned away in shame, embarrassed to show such frailty in front of Gannicus.

She buried her face in her hands and sunk back against the wall. "For a moment..." Alexa inhaled sharply. "For a moment I thought myself free. I am a fool."

Gannicus grabbed the Roman at her waist and lifted her as easily one would a child, placing her on the other side of the body that fell between them. He himself now stood so that he shielded the scene from her view. Alexa stifled a sob, but the hot tears continued to flow down her scarlet cheeks.

"Freedom is not all that it would seem," the man told her, his voice still firm, but tender. As soft as he could with his battle worn hands, Gannicus wiped the glistening tears from the girl's cheeks. The blood smeared across her face and the man worked to tenderly clean it away. Alexa watched him as he did so, his brow furrowed in concentration as if delicate touch was foreign to him. A strand of hair fell across his face, the rest in waves over his shoulders, once golden now dark in the night. His hands were warm and large against her flesh and - she shrugged him away as kindly as she could. At that moment she could not stand being touched.

Gannicus seemed to understand as he stepped away to give her space. The girl sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I am in you debt," she said and threw her shoulders back, attempting to regain as much dignity in her demeanor as she could.

"I will keep that in my thoughts. Someday I may need to collect."

-x-X-x-

The day was growing late, coloring the sky with a deep magenta that signaled the approaching dusk. Though the sun was slowly descending, the warmth still laid upon Alexa like a blanket where she sat in the pulvinus. In the seat in front of her, Seppia called for wine. "There has not been such heat since before Spartacus defeated Theokoles," she commented as she fanned herself.

"Perhaps we will have a similar showing today," Alexa replied and grinned at Mercato, acknowledging the secret shared between the two of them. She turned and her smile slipped silently away. It was difficult for her to feign joy, though the others around her where in high spirits. "The executions do approach."

"If only Spartacus was among the captured," Mercato said. "Then this truly would be a day to rejoice."

Gaius glared at the lanista. "Spartacus will be put to grass soon enough."

"But to have secured these men," Alexa said, catching her brother's eye, "that truly is a feat worthy of praise."

Seppius softly drew circles in the back of the girl's hand. "My men move towards true purpose," he said, smirking at her, "and are quickly approaching the villain and his remaining men."

"Every step is one closer to victory," she replied, trying to appease both her brother and her future husband. "All eyes are set toward similar cause."

"So it would seem," Lucretia interjected, eyeing Alexa intently. The girl stared back, curious to her meaning, but Ilithyia spoke and broke the tension.

"Look, the executions begin!"

Varinius stood, hands held high, and addressed the eager crowd. "Hannibal stands at our gates!" he said, "a phrase used to invoke fear amongst the children of Rome. A specter of the Carthaginian animal who besieged this city with terror and death many years passed. Yet is the fate of all enemies of the Republican, Hannibal passed from this life at the end of a Roman sword! A fate that will one day be shared by the rebel Spartacus."

The spectators cheered, a loud roar that swept across the amphitheater and rose up to the pulvinus. Alexa sat up tall in her seat and clutched tighter to Seppius' interwoven hand. The man leaned into her and whispered in her ear. "I did not know you so enthralled with the games."

"A fact unknown to me as well." The girl turned to her betrothed. "But Varinius does have a way with words." And indeed, the citizens of roam urged on their praetor, anxious to hear more.

"The gods are yet to bless us with such glorious sight," Varinius continued, "yet they grace us with intent upon horizon. Three of Spartacus' most trusted men - their deaths will serve as warning to all who would challenge Rome!"

The gates opened and the rebels took to the sand, chained but armed each with a gladius. The crowd jeered, yelling slanders and throwing rubbish at the men who paid no mind to the hateful masses.

"Their blood to be shed ad gladium, by the warriors who this day earned position in the primus. Yet who shall lead the forced of Rome? Who deserves such storied battle? There stands but one."

Alexa bowed her head to hide the blush that spread across her cheeks. She thought of the night passed - of the way the gladiator's coarse hands smoothed teasingly across her flesh. Of the single kiss placed just below her ear. The heat caused by the touch of his lips still lingered there, and now a constant desire burned elsewhere.

From the corner of her eye, she caught Lucretia staring.

"The only gladiator from this fair city to earn his freedom upon the sands. A true god of the arena. I give you Gannicus!"

The gate open and Gannicus stepped forward, a shower of crimson petals falling over him in greeting. His name echoed through the air, a steady throb that trembled throughout the stadium. Alexa could not help but smile as the man lifted his swords high and embraced the roar of the crowd.

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><p><strong>I am so thankful for the reviews! I love you all so much. Kisses!<strong>


	4. ex umbra in solem

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 4: _ex umbra in solem _

"From the Shadow into the Light"

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><p>"Gaius is a prideful man and your discussions are like battles, wounding him." Alexa put her hands on Seppius' chest, inching a finger into the collar of his tunic. She entreated the flesh there with tender caress. "He will become brother by bond and after by blood. You must learn to deliver words with honey, not venom."<p>

The man embraced her hands with his own and ran his lips along her knuckles. "As you are so skilled at doing," he replied. She watched his hands, long and elegant and soft from years of privileged life, but only saw another's. She remembered how rough hands dominated hers, so large and capable of anything, and how she melted in his touch.

She smiled a soft pink blush and bowed with a bashful grace. "I am just weary of being intermediary, always trying to please both you and him."

Seppius placed a hand under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him. "We both hold you in such great fondness."

Alexa scoffed and pulled away from the man. "My brother has little affection for me. He does not hold me in the same esteem that you do Seppia." She let out a bold laugh after the name left her lips and turned from her betrothed. "I have learned many things since the fall of the arena, one being that those entrusted will abandon you when most needed."

"You speak of honey and venom, yet your words leave a wicked sting! Speak your piece now, for tonight is the last that I will allow such malice from you."

Alexa crossed her arms firmly over her chest, thinking back to the day that the arena fell and so many along with it, lost under the collapsed rubble, their blood upon the sands - "Like so many others, I could have perished in the flames, yet no one would have noticed," she spoke. "Gaius - he grabbed not sister, but wife! And you grabbed not wife, but sister!"

Seppius shook his head. "An act forged from frenzied excitement." He extended his arms and walked towards the girl. "I would embrace you now."

"The hour grows late," she said and lifted her chin with defiance. "I would see myself to my chambers." She made to retreat but Seppius grabbed her wrist. "Or would you like to give me escort back to my brother's villa?"

The man smiled and pulled Alexa into him. "Neither of those things would so please me."

"Seppius -" He paid her no mind, but grabbed her hips, working the fabric up in his fists. "The gods would see us wait until we are wed."

He stopped his movements and dropped her skirts with a harsh sigh. "We are nearly wed," Seppius reminded her, rubbing his nose softly against hers. She feigned a smile, not wanting to show him how unnerved she was.

"Nearly is not so," she said, and gently pushed him away.

"I am truly blessed by the gods," Seppius told her, "to have been bestowed such an _honorable_ woman." She heard the irritation in his voice, but chose not to address it. The events of the days passed had left her exhausted and she wished to sleep, not argue. Sleep now was her only reprieve, and dreams of strong and powerful hands...

Seppius wrapped an arm around her waist and attempted to lead her out of the room when they heard a harrowing scream from outside the door. Alexa jumped, frightened, and tightened her hold onto the man. More screams followed.

"Seppius?"

"Stay here!" he said, untangling himself from the girl's embrace. "Conceal yourself until I retrieve you."

"No, Seppius, I beg you, stay. Your guards..."

The man took her by her shoulders and leaned down to speak. "Heed my command," he told her, and though his tone was rigid, a genuine tenderness heard so seldom was also in his voice. He placed his lips against hers and retreated quickly from the room.

Screams filled the villa and Alexa could do nothing but collapse where she was on the floor, covering her ears with her hands in attempt to drown out the sound. It was all in vain, for she still heard the chaos that emanated outside.

Something was thrown against the door with a harsh thud and, despite herself, the girl screamed. She wrapped her hand around her mouth, but she was already discovered, and a man barged through the door with an inferno in his eyes. She crawled quickly backward, but he only laughed at her, sheathing his sword in its scabbard.

"My dear, Alexa. I have been looking for you."

She stood quickly. "Ashur, please, whoever sent you is no friend of yours. Surely my brother will hear of this and when he does -"

Ashur snatched her arm, but she struggled against him, screaming and writhing in attempt to free herself of his grasp. He drug her from the room and led her to the forechamber. Blood stained every surface, covering the halls with a sanguine shadow. She slipped in a puddle that seeped from a man's throat, and her captor had to catch her before she fell.

"Gaius!" she yelled, when she spotted her brother. "Gaius, what is this?" She fought against the man that held her, but his grip was strong and unyielding.

"Still yourself!" her brother yelled, adding to the screams that could still be heard echoing in the halls around her. Alexa did as she was told, but could now barely hold herself up from exertion. Ashur held her with a bruising clutch, not letting her go even when her betrothed came into view.

Seppius crawled, spitting up blood onto the already filthy floor and the girl cried out to him. "Seppius! Seppius, oh please, Gaius, help him!"

Annoyed, her brother turned and backhanded her, and she could feel her lip split from the impact. She laid limp in Ashur's arms, watching as her brother walked over to the wounded man and sat on the chaise in front of him.

"Apologies," he said. "I could not wait until morning. You wish to give voice to my offer? I fear it comes too late."

Seppius looked towards Alexa, and saw her frantic, but mostly unwounded, then back to Gaius. "S-Seppia...?"

"I've seen how close you hold her to heart." Gaius stood with a start, and kicked the man onto his back. Alexa cried out with a horrified gasp. The praetor turned to his sister with a look of warning, then focused his attentions back on the man writhing on the floor in front of him, putting a hard foot to his throat.

"Leave this life knowing she is safe beneath my roof, my hand to comfort her in the days to come. Words no longer hold meaning. And I've heard too many of them by fools pretending to be my better. Such things are at an end! Your men are now mine and, with their addition to my own, clear path to the end of Spartacus."

With a wet crunch, Seppius ceased to move and Gaius left with not even a look back to his sister. Ashur allowed her to fall to the ground and she moved to throw herself onto Seppius, covering his body with hers and staining herself with his blood in the process.

No tears left her as she tried to clean the blood from the man's face. She closed his eyes, and said a prayer, entreating the gods to end this madness. Too many lives have already been lost...

Ashur bent down next to Alexa and removed Seppius' favored golden bracelet from his lifeless wrist. "I assume you will tell no one about this," he said, "if you care at all of your own fate."

-x-X-x-

Blood tarnished Alexa's thoughts so that she could no longer find sanctuary even in her sleep. Days passed one after another and so did restless nights. She could not stand to speak to anyone, for lies and deceit gave purpose to her words, forcing her to tell stories of rebel slaves and murderous wills.

"We have all suffered loss of those closest to us," Gaius announced to the gathering crowd. "Even a senator of our great republic, the man my wife called father, has been ripped from this world by Spartacus and his mongrel hordes!"

Alexa could not stand to look at her brother, nor anyone else. She stood, arm around Seppia's shoulders and the girl's fast around her waist, and stared at the dusty ground beneath her. She could feel the smaller girl shaking as she laid her head on Alexa's chest, Alexa stroking her hair in comfort.

"And now beloved Seppius has fallen to this festering disease called rebellion... murdered by his own slaves. My dear sister, Alexa, stands the only one breathing after the attack, spared only by the gods themselves!"

Seppia held on tighter to the girl's waist, her tears soaking Alexa's black stola. Alexa whispered words to ease her pain, but they were all hollow, the truth of past events threatening to spill from her.

"We must be ever vigilant in these dark times. We must bring to light even dimmest shadow of betrayal if it is revealed to us. From this day forward, any slave who dares to whisper the name Spartacus shall be put to death."

The crowd parted, giving way to soldiers advancing with a wooden cross, the masses aghast at the thought of duplicity from their inferiors. _If only they knew where the true treachery hid..._

"Even those owned by a praetor of Rome."

Alexa dared to look at her brother, but immediately turned away disgusted. She scanned the assembly, watching the faces of those who supported his cause, and stared into the eyes of Gannicus. Her heart stopped and her breath caught. She had thought him perished in the arena, but now, here, he was a ghost who stood before her. But he had to be real - solid and golden like a statue of a god that she could reach out and touch.

"You are well?" Seppia asked her, eyes red and swollen.

She managed to pull her gaze from the Celt and turned to the girl. "Disastrous events have taken their toll on me. I shall fare better presently."

"Listen how she begs!" Gaius' voice brought Alexa's attentions back to him and the slave held against the cross. "Pleading with the very tongue that only yesterday held praise to Spartacus upon it. Praise to the slaves that murdered Seppius."

_Liar..._

"Praise most fortunate to be overheard by loyal wife."

All eyes turned to Ilithyia, and she stood shocked by the declaration. Alexa was still beside her, privy to her brother's secret, but not to this one. She now knew that Gaius would do anything to see the fall of Spartacus, bring anyone into his tangled web.

"It is true," Ilithyia said. "I heard her speak it."

_More lies..._

Seppia grabbed tight to Alexa's hand. "Had she more than one life to take."

"Let this serve as warning to any slave who would conspire against us." Gaius snapped his fingers and a nail was driven through the woman's wrist. The sound echoed through the air, her screams shook Alexa, making her tremble with guilt and horror. If she spoke, would anyone listen? She could not watch, so she turned away, looking back to the crowd where Gannicus stood, but like the ghost she had imagined him to be, he was gone.

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><p><strong>Thank you readers! I love you all so much! And a special thanks to yourdelusionalsunset(dot)tumblr(dot)com<strong>

**who is promoting this story on Tumblr. All Gannicus lovers should go check out her wonderful blog!**


	5. orta recens quam pura nites

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 5: _orta recens quam pura nites _

"Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine"

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><p>Alexa had taken to pacing the villa in the early light of the morning. The tile was cold and crisp on her bare feet, but it was good - she preferred the chilly bite to the numbness that she was beginning to feel. <em>My heart is as ice, <em>she had told her body slave when asked how she fared. Now the frozen pain felt sharp in her chest, and only the blazing Capua heat could melt it away. So she wandered the corridors, looking for the slave whom she had dismissed so abruptly little less than an hour earlier, so that they could go to market.

"Alexa."

The sound of her name made the girl stop midstep, and slowly she turned to the man who had addressed her. The prior warmth that had been given to her was absent his voice, but still he stood as the midmorning sun that she so sought, golden and brilliant and beautiful.

"Gannicus." She gently bowed her head in greeting and stepped towards the man, suddenly aware of the drab garment she wore, the coarse black fabric dragging roughly on the floor behind her. He matched her steps and they met with only a few strides, her on nervous limbs and his, broad and strong.

"It warms heart to see you were not lost to the flames," he said. No smirk. No curious twinkle in his eyes. And that prompted Alexa to wonder of his business in her brother's villa, and why the rigid demeanor.

She did not ask. Whatever business was not hers. Instead, the girl fiddled with the ebony shawl draped over her elbow. "Like the phoenix I have risen from the ashes of my former self," she told him. "Eyes have been opened and heart made anew."

"Days have been hard for you, of that I do not question." Gannicus reached out and, with a feathered touch, ran his thumb gently over Alexa's split lip. "You yet bare the evidence."

The girl pulled away and took a step back, her naked feet brushing the still cold tiles in a angry shuffle. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, wetting the wound that her brother had given her. "You are a man too bold," Alexa snapped, and that was not a lie like the others she had told of late. Her head spun with not only lies, but the suppressed truth that choked her from inside. And she was tired now. Tired of the lies and just - _tired. _

"You would do well to know your place," she said, and she tried to stay cold but the warm feel of the man's touch still lingered on her lip.

"My place?" Gannicus repeated with a laugh and whatever bitterness he possessed turned sweet on his tongue as his merriment rang from the corners of the room. The sound stopped short, but his smirk stayed while the man crossed his arms over his chest.

Alexa was less amused. "You are a guest here, are you not? Brought by my brother's will I assume. I doubt that he would be pleased that you so touched his sister."

Gannicus closed the gap between him, leaning down towards the girl, his teeth bared in a predatory smile. "Do you believe the praetor frightens me?" he growled.

"He should!" Alexa nearly shouted, but stopped herself, worried that her words would echo and find unintended ears. "Gaius is merciless," she forced herself to whisper. "He would do anything to stop the man who so humiliated him. Do not let him ensnare you in his trap."

She walked from the middle of the room to the edge, where they may be less noticed, and Gannicus followed. The breeze blew in from the window beside them, making the sheer curtains rise like a teal current. The wind was a balmy caress against Alexa's flesh, moving her hair away from her face in an ebony wave, so dark it almost blended with her mourning gown.

"What would you have me do?" Gannicus asked her, running his fingers through his own hair, causing a soft chime to rise from the beads and coins braided into the tresses.

"Leave Capua," she pleaded. "Now, before opportunity disappears. For if you spurn him, I fear there will be mortal consequences."

"Have no worry of my life. I make no plans to die for Spartacus' cause or Glaber's wrath." The man smiled again, cocky and lighthearted. "I might leave Capua, if it were absent your presence. But you stay here and perhaps I shall as well."

Alexa shook her head with a sigh. "Must you make sport of everything? I offer advice and you dismiss it with laughs."

The space was scant between them, the girl pressed against the wall to conceal herself from view, and the billowing curtains making the couple float in and out of view with every swell of the sheer tide. Gannicus cupped Alexa's shoulders and brought her closer to him. "Why this attempt to help me, a man you do not even know?"

She could feel the heat radiate from his skin, like the sun that gave life to all things. Whatever frost that hung inside of her had long vanished since in the man's presence and she too melted under his fevered touch.

"You saved me," Alexa reminded him, her words soft and thick, "and I was but a stranger."

His fingertips danced down her arms and she could feel her pale flesh flush into a warm pink glow. She licked her wounded lip again and brought it between her teeth, tasting the metallic cut that so marred her face. Gannicus placed his hand under her jaw, coaxing her to release her captured lip with a gentle stroke of his thumb beneath her mouth and she obliged.

"Urging me to leave Capua," said the man, "you believe this to be the debt repaid?" He caught her wrists in his hands and her shawl fell in a thin black puddle upon the ground beside their feet. Alexa's heart beat fast in her chest and she wondered if the man could feel it in her pulse.

"I only mean to caution one who I would not want to see dead," she said in barely more than a slow sigh.

Gannicus placed her hands upon his chest, one meeting coarse fabric and the other smoothing over tight flesh. He put his palms against her blushing cheeks and brought his face to hers. "Already do I feel safer in your hands," he whispered and Alexa's eyes fluttered close as their lips met in a tender embrace.

He was gentle with the girl - her porcelain cheeks felt fragile beneath his touch and her lips far too soft, he felt, for the rugged desire of a gladiator. But they acquiesced nicely to his every bidding, parting slightly so he may run his tongue gingerly over her own. Alexa's hands found his hair and buried themselves deep in the golden curls, fingering sleek tresses and metal beads, trying to pull him deeper into herself.

The man's arms wrapped around her back, holding her to him so that no part of his body was absent hers. Gannicus cursed the black cotton that held him from his desire, to sink fingertips into supple flesh and feel Alexa yield in his palms. But her lips were enough, swollen and sweet against his, willing and pliable to his demands. The girl moaned into his mouth, a small sound so divine that he almost lost control with the pleasure of hearing it.

"Apologies!"

The couplet quickly broke apart, and Gannicus turned to the woman who had entered the room. Alexa stepped from behind the man and stood beside him, both facing Lucretia in a guilty silence.

"Am I interrupting?" the woman asked, her mouth twitching up into a small smirk. Gannicus cleared his throat and, for a reason unbeknownst to her, Alexa pressed closer to the man's side.

"No," he said. "I was just taking my leave." Gannicus looked down at the girl, his brown eyes aglow though no emotion was discernible on his face. He said no more, but placed a hand on his rudis and walked from the room. Alexa felt she could barely stand without his guiding hand, so she pressed back against the wall, chest still lightly heaving. The two women stayed silent, eyes fixed on each other. Lucretia clasped her hands in front of her, and walked a few paces towards the girl.

"To have him in your possession," Alexa finally said, "were you not tempted beyond all reason?"

"Gannicus was but a slave, like all others." Lucretia stood in front of Alexa and placed a comforting palm on her arm. "I would strike him from thoughts."

The girl shook her head and looked at the cool tile below them. "A woman so honorable as you," she said, "so blessed by the gods - of course you have never coveted such a man."

_Yet, I have heard rumor. I am not as slow witted as you may like.  
><em>

Lucretia smiled. "But this is not the first time," the woman revealed to her and Alexa looked up at her in curious awe. "The city has eyes," Lucretia continued. "I would be careful as to where I sneak out to in the dark of night."

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><p><strong>I hope you liked this chapter. And thank you so much for the reviews! They make me so happy :)<strong>

**Can you believe that the season finale of Vengeance is Friday? I don't want it to end!**


	6. desiderata

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 6: _desiderata _

"Things Desired"

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><p>In the calming quiet of her chambers, Alexa sunk deeper into the plush cushions of her bed. The room was dark, save the moonlight streaming in through the window, setting the wall aglow with celestial light. The warm Capua night air enveloped the girl, and she pushed her satin sheets down, tangling them around her ankles.<p>

The smell of lavender oil hovered thick in the air, the scented lamps just recently being blown out so that Alexa may enter the dark land of dreams. But her head still swam with sweet wine, the silver goblet empty and abandoned on the table beside her. Her eyes drifted close, but the girl could not sleep in such an ignited state. She loosened the clasps of her night robe, letting the tepid breeze glide across her bare skin, soft as a lover's touch.

Alexa longed for true hands to ease her aching, so she tried her own, running her fingers through her hair and fanning the tresses out on the pillow around her head. With her neck now exposed, she stroked the smooth column of flesh, letting her nails graze the hollow of her throat, and then slowly down the silk that covered her body.

The girl saw his face clear in her mind - the gladiator with bronze skin and playful eyes, smirking down at her with that easy smile. Alexa tried to imitate his touch, and although her hands were far too small and smooth, they would serve her purpose for now.

She balled the hem of her gown in her fists, and kicked her ankles free off the worrisome sheets, so that she may open her thighs and place the flat of her feet against the bed. With one hand still holding her robe, the girl circled her knee with the other, wondering what the man would say to her if he did so. Would he whisper soft words of comfort and reassurance? Or speak with confident voice of the pleasures yet to come?

Would he be pleased, Alexa thought as she ran a hand up her thigh, that she was wet and willing for him, so affected by just his teasing lips and fluttering caresses? She let the hem of her robe slide from her grasp and bunch up in silk waves on her hips, letting her fingers travel closer up to her destination -

"ILITHYIA!"

The scream woke Alexa from her reverie, and she shot up in her bed, refastening the clasps of her robe with hurried hands. Her feet landed with a light patter on the floor as she made her way out into the corridor, searching for the scene of commotion. She found herself in the foreroom, standing beside her brother and looking down at a collapsed and bleeding Ilithyia, hysterical in Lucretia's arms.

"What has happened to her?" Gaius asked of the women, and his wife brought a crimson covered hand away from her thigh. Alexa watched in antipathy, barely able to stomach the sight of blood nor the dramatics of her brother and this woman.

"Why does she bleed?" the girl asked through clenched teeth, sickened at the spectacle, and still hot from her thoughts of just moments before.

"Tis a sign by the gods," Lucretia replied. "One carried by the child yet to breath life."

Gaius bent down, but made no move to comfort the woman. "And its meaning?"

Ilithyia held on to her companion, and Lucretia tightened her grasp. "Your heir will die if it remains in a city cursed with blood and fear."

"I will have her carried to Rome as soon as she is able," the man said as he stood, and Alexa stepped forward to his side.

"Lucretia should accompany her," the girl suggested. It was better that Lucretia left, Alexa knew. She harbored too many secrets for her own good. Ones that could be used in times of desperation. "She could act as trusted guide to watch over her at all times."

"I shall accompany her and attend to her needs," the woman agreed, and smiled up at Alexa appreciatively.

"Apologies, praetor." Ashur slithered up to Gaius' other side, and Alexa watched, curious as to what new plan he had in store and to what extent it would affect her own. "Lucretia's a dear friend to your wife, yet offers greater comfort to Capua. I fear the people would fall to despair absent her divine presence."

"Wise counsel," Gaius said with a nod of his head. "Have your presence known tomorrow in the market. Ease mind in our city and continue to assure them the gods favor my efforts."

Alexa glared at Ashur, then looked to her brother. "Surely the gods favor you, Gaius, to give you such divine advisement, but -"

"You will leave with Ilithyia," Gaius interjected and the girl's heart dropped. She could not leave for Rome to take care of _Ilithyia_. And she must stay, if only in hopes of another meeting with the man Gannicus.

"Gaius, Lucretia is better suited -"

"I will have no fucking question!" the praetor yelled and Alexa flinched back, fearful of his wrath. All were silent in the room, each person staring intently at the siblings, and Alexa quickly corrected herself, not wanting anyone to be aware of her apprehension.

"Who is this man you have become?" she hissed. "A stranger peers out from behind your eyes. You are no longer my brother."

Gaius said no words in reply, only motioned for a guard to pick up Ilithyia and put her to rest so the medicus may see her. Ashur followed the praetor as he left, leaving Alexa and Lucretia alone in the abandoned foreroom. They stared at each other, and the girl offered a hand to help the woman off of the floor.

"Better I leave now," Alexa said, looking down the corridor to where Gaius disappeared, "so I may be free of that man and his prison!"

"Have no worry," Lucretia said, cupping the girl's shoulders in her hands. She looked up at the older woman, cocking an inquisitive brow, and Lucretia continued. "Just leave the pawns to those who know how to play the game."

-x-X-x-

Gannicus sat under the shade of a canopy, drinking wine from an almost empty ampulla, as he gazed out into the Capua street. He was reluctant to remove the drink from his lips, its scent helping to mask the smell that hung in the hot air of human bodies, crucified and left to rot upon their crosses.

"Come to plain words!" he commanded, slamming his wine on the table before him and standing to meet the woman who was coming between him and his drink. She had come between him and many things so desired in these past days and he was not ready to easily forgive.

"I would have you kill Gaius Cladius Glaber," Lucretia said. "End pointless suffering and restore order to this madness."

"And in return?" he asked as he rounded to table to meet the woman. She waited for him to come closer before she spoke again.

"The bounty that you crave," she whispered knowingly.

Gannicus picked the ampulla up from the table, but only held it in his hand. He looked out to the street, at the people who paid them no mind, then back at the woman before him. "Bounty?"

Lucretia tilted her head. "Opportunity to pluck blossoming flower," she said, but stood offended as Gannicus laughed and turned from her. He drunk of his wine, then rounded on the woman again, still smiling.

"I have no desire for the praetor's sister," he told her.

"So that kiss was innocent touch?"

Gannicus put the ampulla to his lips, but did not drink. "You do not know what you saw," the Celt said before he tilted the wine back and finished it in a single swallow.

"I know that Gaius will remove all who would stand in his way," Lucretia told him, stepping forward. "He cares not if they are of oath or blood, no person will set him from path. And absent husband, his sister is now burden to him."

Gannicus crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back upon the table. "You believe he would harm her?" he asked, attempting to keep the worry from his voice. He must act merely curious, as his true thoughts were none of this Roman's concern.

"There is no doubt," Lucretia said. "He cares only of his heir, of whom his wife carries. This very night she leaves for Rome, taking with her half his personal guard to see her safely from the city. I could distract any that remain close to the villa entry, giving opportunity for a single man to take Glaber's life while he sleeps. And Spartacus to receive the blame."

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><p><strong>Gratitude, wonderful reviewers! Please comment and tell me what you think!<strong>


	7. miserere nobis

**Release Life's Rapture**

_miserere nobis _

"Have Mercy Upon Us"

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><p>Alexa rested her head against the wooden wall of the carriage, letting the vibration of wheels against the hard road lull her to sleep. The cool breeze seeped in from a crack between the curtain and its frame, allowing the girl to breath in the last of the Capua air that she could. Out here, beyond the boundaries of the market, the city was something new altogether, with nothing but trees and sky and a dirt trail that led away from both the cruel and blessed memories that Alexa longed to forget.<p>

A particularly unpleasant bump rocked the girl from her rest, and her eyes fluttered open briefly before she closed them again. She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, snuggling deeper into the folds of the fabric, when her companion placed a hand on her covered arm to wake her.

"What was that?" Ilithyia asked from beside her.

"Uneven terrain," the girl muttered in her half-sleep. "Pay it no mind."

"We have stopped!" she then exclaimed, startling Alexa from the light slumber and making her to turn the woman in haste. She put her hand up to stop anything else that Ilithyia might say.

"Quiet yourself," she commanded with a whisper, then turned to the curtained door, trying to listen to what was happening outside. She heard the familiar sound of steel against steel, and the gasp of death as men fell forever silent.

Both Ilithyia and herself shrunk back from the door, and Alexa cursed herself for not bringing anything for protection. Her brother had thought that the guards would be enough, and maybe they were, for neither woman knew who was winning the battle nor who had come nor why. What they did know is that they could only sit there helpless until fate presented them with either salvation or ruin.

And their questions were soon answered, when all noise had stopped and the only thing heard were their ragged breaths mingling in the dark compartment, Ilithyia clutched at the back of the girl's bodice as they both watched the door. A hand gripped the frame, frightening both the women and their body slaves, and the curtains were pulled back to reveal a blood spattered Gannicus. Relief filled Alexa, and she wanted to jump into the safety of his arms, but that was quickly followed by proper revelation.

"Apologies," he said, though he seemed none too apologetic, only surprised, as he grabbed the girl and hauled her from the cart, making her fall into him with a solid thud. When she gained her footing, she attempted to pull away, but his grip on her was secure, and she could not move from his hold. Alexa finally calmed, and he let her go without a word, but stared at her, brows furrowed as if in contemplative confusion.

The girl turned from him, and with the darkness of the night fractured by stars, the carnage of battle was revealed, and it took everything in her to keep from retching. Blood glimmered in black puddles, limbs rested far from their bodies, and the insides of men were excavated and fell seeping to the ground. Alexa steadied herself with one hand on the cart, the other on her stomach, and looked back up at Gannicus. "What have you done?"

He did not reply, even when he grabbed at her skirts and pulled the hem apart, ripping shreds of fabric off of her stola. She let out a cry, aghast at his harsh actions, and when he lifted the fabric to her face, she caught his wrist to stop him.

"Gannicus, whatever thought is in mind, see it removed!" she pleaded. The man's face softened, but not his resolve as he brought the makeshift blindfold to cover her eyes. She dropped her hands to her side and allowed him to do so, knowing any attempt at escape would be futile.

"Apologies," he said once more, this time in a whisper that got lost in the thick curls of her hair as he reached behind her and tied the fabric into a knot. The man let his fingers drift slowly over the tresses while she stood stark still and sightless. He swept her hair back behind her, and let his hands dance slowly down her trembling arms before binding her wrists together.

"Please!" she heard Ilithyia scream. "Have mercy on us!"

Alexa had forgotten about the others in the carriage, and became frightened for what Gannicus would do to them. She flinched as someone knocked into her - Ilithyia being pulled down from the cart and no doubt quickly bound as she was. The woman once again pleaded for her life and that of her child, but to her, Gannicus said nothing in return.

"Go!" he growled and Alexa jumped in surprise. Behind her, the wood of the carriage creaked with the weight of the Roman women's body slaves.

"Where do we go?" Talisa asked. The girl turned blindly towards her slave, not knowing whether to speak to her or not. Would she be loyal and return to Capua or flee to freedom, as Alexa herself would do? She feared her brother's wrath, and opened her mouth to tell Talisa not to go back, but Gannicus spoke instead.

"Far from here," he replied sharply. "Or back to your master. Choose your own path. Now go!"

-x-X-x-

It felt like hours that they were stumbling along, both women led by a fast paced Gannicus. Alexa could see a sliver of light from the top of her blindfold, so she knew it was now day, though she felt no rays on her flesh, only the cool touch of shade. Where they were, she did not know. Hidden in the wood by trees? Sneaking down an overgrown backroad?

"Where do you take us?" Ilithyia asked, the previous worry in her voice now replaced by stubborn annoyance. "Please, I am with child!"

Gannicus did not entertain a reply, but moments later he stopped, the women along with him. Alexa was suddenly freed of her blindfold, and she blinked a few times to focus her vision. Gannicus stood in front of her, and she held his gaze, the unasked questions clear on her face. But now was no time for answers.

"Someone approaches," Gannicus explained, and took the blindfold off of Ilithyia as well. "Follow fucking lead," he told the older woman, "and do not stray from it." The man produced a knife and cut the Romans from their bonds, letting the fabric fall to the ground into the cover of leaves. Gannicus clasped Alexa's hand in his own, and together they walked toward the approaching group, Ilithyia close behind them.

"What brings you this far from road, brother?" one of the men asked. He peered between the couple and caught sight of the pregnant woman. "And with one so ripe with child?"

"Ancient horse put to grass," Gannicus lied. He let go of the girl's hand and slid his fingertips up her soft flesh as he spoke, linking their elbows when he reached the crook of her arm. "The woods offer shorter distance for my wife and sister to Pompeii."

"Shorter by a lifetime if you do not exercise caution. Spartacus and his fucks took a wagon from here not to recently."

Alexa could hear the crunch of leaves as Ilithyia stepped closer. "Spartacus?" she asked, and the girl's own breath caught in her chest for a moment. Gannicus was taking them to Spartacus, but for what? To pay for Gaius' sins?

Gannicus looked over his shoulder to stop the woman from speaking again. "Perhaps we should be on our way," he said to her, then turned back to the girl on his arm. "Come, my love, unless similar misfortune falls upon us."

"Appears it already has," the man said. "What business do you have in Pompeii?"

A moment passed as Gannicus hesitated. Alexa could feel his arm tense around hers, so she spoke for him. "Meat and bone call for coin," she told the group, slightly awed at the ease in which the lie fell from her tongue. But these men could not help her, she knew, and the only way to stay safe was to go along with her captor. For now.

"A butcher? Fine dress for the wife of such."

Alexa felt Ilithyia push past her, frantic and foolish. "He is a gladiator. I am the preator's -" Gannicus caught the woman and thrust her to the ground before attacking the men, but she quickly scrambled back up and ran off screaming, Alexa close in tow. When the girl finally caught her, she turned her furiously by her shoulders and smacked her across the cheek.

"You simple minded wench!" she hissed, her grip tight on the women's forearms so she could not get away. Ilithyia put a hand up to her face, shocked.

"How dare you strike me!"

Furious, Alexa hit her again on the other cheek. "Hear me! Three men are put to grass now because of you. Next time it could be us! Our greatest chance at staying alive is to do as Gannicus commands."

"Staying alive?" the woman repeated, face red and eyes glistening with unspilt tears. She inhaled deeply and let out a rough breath before speaking again. "He is leading us to Spartacus!"

Alexa released Ilithyia's arms, but not without giving her a slight shove away for good measure. "And we will greet him with strength and dignity."

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><p><strong>I know this chapter was kind of boring, but believe me, the next one will be <em>much<em> better. ^_^**

**Please leave reviews and comments! Gratitude!  
><strong>


	8. dum vivimus, vivamus

**Release Life's Rapture**

_dum vivimus, vivamus _

"While We Live, Let Us Live"

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><p>Alexa was sat down on the hard, cold ground, still bound and blindfolded, helpless and at the mercy of her captor. The stone floor was unyielding, yet gave relief to her throbbing feet, so sore that they were almost numb with aching. Her blindfold was eased off of her eyes and the girl blinked in the dim light. Gannicus squatted in front of her, but she turned her head away from him. She had no words for the man, and after the long day, was ready for whatever may come. He brought a knife from his sheath and cut the fabric from her wrists, now red and raw from the bindings.<p>

"I will see you to some food," he said as he stood again, bringing the strap of his scabbard over his head and setting it down.

"I am not hungry," Alexa replied.

"Some water then?" he asked, removing his cloak and placing it ontop of his sword. The girl tried not to watch, only catching glimpses of his movements from the corner of her eye.

"Neither do I thirst."

"You have not eaten -"

Alexa turned sharply toward the man. "Why have you taken us?" she interjected, but Gannicus didn't reply. He looked down at her, lips slightly parted as if wanting to speak, but no words were said. "If I did not know better," she continued, "I'd think you were aiding Gaius, removing us from his worry."

The man shook his head and chuckled, a sound so beautiful and easy that it angered Alexa even more. "Lucretia set me to path - to _kill_ the praetor."

"Lucretia?" Alexa pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, and could not help but laugh at her misfortune. "You fool," she said and looked back up to him. "To allow yourself to be caught in their schemes! I warned you -"

"And I have come to no harm," he replied.

"How can you jest, Gannicus? You have crossed a praetor, stolen his sister and pregnant wife, joined a rebel cause, yet you still believe this to be a game. How could you be so -"

"I know this is not a game!" he snapped back, catching the girl off guard. "Don't you think I know?"

Alexa stood quickly, furious at his response. She was not one that would cower whenever the man bared his teeth, so she straightened her back in defiance and gave him a cold stare. His face softened and he chuckled again, and she hate him for it. She hated more that her eyes were unable to look away from his lips, and even worse how her pulse fluttered when he took a step closer to her.

"And now?" Alexa asked. "Do you kill us? Keep us? Will we be hostages forever or will you put us out of our misery?"

"No one will lay a finger on you, of that I promise."

The girl looked away sadly, taking in her small, dank surroundings. The light flickered, a shadow moved, and when she looked back up, Gannicus was even nearer to her still. "You deliver us to the lion's jaws with promise that they will not snap shut," she said to the man. "How can I trust you, he who has stolen me out of my life like a monster from a child's story?"

"You think me a monster?" he asked, his brows furrowed and held tilted in anticipation of her answer, looking so innocent that Alexa almost felt sorry for slowly nodding her affirmation. The man took a swift step toward the girl, and slipped his hand behind her head, firmly sinking his fingers into the now tangled tresses, and she gasped, frightened of the touch that she so desired not but two nights before. But she did not move away as he brought her closer, pressing his forehead against her own.

"Truly?" Gannicus asked, his nose grazing hers, the breath of his whisper soft against her lips.

"Yes," she sighed, and the man drew away and leaned against the wall, resting the back of his head against the hard stone. Alexa watched him, thinking that he looked nearly as vulnerable as she felt, and before she knew what she was doing, she reached out to touch him. Gannicus caught her wrist in his hand, startling her, and for a moment she thought he was angry, but before she could ponder it further, he pulled her towards him and covered her lips with his in a hungry kiss.

She wanted to resist, but his mouth was fiery and demanding, almost as hot as his flesh as she gripped his shoulders in her palms to steady herself. They were strong and broad, a perfect anchor to her trembling knees, but so smooth as she slid her hands up to bury her fingers into his hair. Gannicus held Alexa tight against him, and nipped at her lip, eliciting a small groan of pleasure from the girl so sweet that he was made more ravenous from hearing it.

"I am a monster, selfish for bringing you here," he whispered, but Alexa could barely hear him over her own labored breathing. "Selfish," he said as he pressed his lips along the length of her jaw, "to want you for myself. To do whatever I could," he continued, now at her ear, his words deep and low, making her heart pound mercilessly in her chest, "to have you for my own."

Alexa could not rightly respond, lacking the mind to form proper words, but she need not speak, for the Gannicus' lips were at the corner of her mouth, teasing the girl with a soft and tender caress. He pulled back and picked Alexa up in his arms, laying her gently on the ground, while cradling her head as he let it rest on the cold floor.

The man sat beside the girl and swept strands of her hair from her face. She looked up at him, mesmerized at the golden god who lavished such delicate attention on her. Gannicus traced the arch of her brow, the smooth swell of her cheek, the fullness of her pink lips, memorizing the girl's features with his fingertips. He let his hands dance down her throat and across the soft fabric that covered her breasts in a touch so light that she arched up to meet him. He pushed her skirts up to her knees, briefly eyeing the ragged ends that he tore to bind her, and began to unwrap the leather laces from her legs, slipping the dirty and ruined sandals from her feet.

Gannicus tried to apologize with his hands, gingerly kneading her sore and swollen feet. He let his fingers leave promises that he would make it up to her, letting them flutter up the inside of her thigh, and she quivered in silent forgiveness. "You can still tell me to stop," he whispered, his voice husky and rough. "Forbid me -"

Alexa shook her head no, and took hold of his hand, kissing his knuckles before coaxing him ontop of her with a gentle tug. _While we live, _she thought_, let us live..._

Gannicus settled himself between her legs, and she gasped when she felt the coarse fabric of his pants rub against her core. The corners of the man's lips turned up into a smile that he did not try to hide as he unfastened the clasp at Alexa's shoulder and kissed the pale flesh that was revealed. He ran his fingers across her collarbone towards the opposite shoulder, and made quick work of the other clasp, leaving her bodice to lay across her breasts softly, covering what he so longed to set eyes upon.

The man grabbed the girl's dress at her hips and slowly inched it up, bunching it in his fists until he reached the tattered hem, and then lifted it over her head so that she was naked beneath him. Her body was flushed a creamy rose, her nipples pink and pert, and her lips even more blushing and swollen as the gladiator bent down to capture them once more. His hand found her breast and he caressed the hard bud, running the pad of his thumb across it, making Alexa break their kiss with a ragged breath.

Once free, his mouth found her nipple, outlining it with his tongue. Her hands were once again in his hair, grabbing hold of braids and beads, the golden strands soft in her grasp. Alexa cried out when he took it between his teeth, and when his hands smoothed down her stomach, her moan was long and loud.

She paid no mind to the open entrance of the small room, where any may pass and be witness to the couple's display. All she cared about was the rough fingers inside of her, and how they pressed themselves against her clit, massaging it with slick strokes. Gannicus groaned at how wet she was, the sound mingling with her own pleasure, and how tight and resisting she was against his digits when the rest of her body clung to him so insistently.

Alexa voiced her dismay when the man pulled from her, but his return was quick, and his pants discarded so he was as nude as she was. He spread her thighs and slid back between her legs, leaning down to kiss her before he took his hardened cock in hand and placed it against her wetness. There was a hitch in her breathing when he slowly filled her, and her breasts arched up to meet his chest, their flesh hot and welcoming against each other.

He buried his nose in his neck and he buried himself inside of her, trying to contain the rough passion of a gladiator. She was so soft underneath him, her thighs tight around his waist, her delicate fingers trying to grab hold of his shoulders - the man hadn't felt such a way since he entered the virgin arena, and that was incomparable to his present pleasure.

Alexa said the man's name with a sigh, so he pulled out and back in again, and when there was no objection, only coy encouragement from her sweet lips, he took her hips in his hands and began to move inside of her. She winced but once, when she pushed up to grind her hips into his, but pleaded for him not to stop when his thrusts faltered.

She pushed his hair back so she could see his face in the dim light of the room. He was beautiful - kind eyes under thick brows, a slender nose, stubbled jaw, and soft lips that turned up into a smile when she bit her own and threw her head back, rolling her clit against him.

Alexa was dimly aware of her flesh scraping against the stone underneath her and, as if he knew, he wrapped his arms around her back and lifted her from the ground, sitting the girl ontop of him. Now only her knees were subject to the rough floor, and his, as he thrust up into her. She answered in kind, his efforts being met with equal measure, and he smiled once more in response to her enthusiasm.

Gannicus became less gentle as he felt his release approaching, and her body invited it. His finger tightened around her hips, and hers around his shoulders, her nails cutting into his tanned flesh as he bit down on her neck. Alexa called out to the gods, but cared only for the one inside of her - more powerful than Jupiter himself, he had to be, to make her feel such rapture. Her hair tumbled wild down her back, an ebony sea of tangled waves, as she rode the man to her climax. Gannicus felt her clench around him, her womanly walls slick and warm and _tight_, and with a final thrust, he emptied himself inside of her.

The two clung to each other, chests heaving with shallow breaths, and the gladiator the skin behind Alexa's ear. He eased the girl back down to the floor, reluctantly pulling out of her with a sigh. She stretched her body, lean and graceful, while Gannicus reached for his cloak, and he pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms before covering them both. His muscles coiled around her like rope, and for once, she truly believed that she was safe.

"I'm alive," she whispered. "With you, I am alive."

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><p><strong>This is what you all have been waiting for, right? I hope you liked it :)<strong>

**Please leave comments and reviews. Kisses!  
><strong>


	9. dum spiro, spero

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 9: _dum spiro, spero_

"While I Breathe, I Hope"

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><p>Gannicus tried to remember the last time he awoke next to a woman. He could not. The whores he frequented were paid then left, and the women whom he chanced upon were quickly sent away after his needs were satisfied. None stayed. None were asked to stay. But now Alexa was fast asleep beside him, her head resting against his arm, her chest gently rising and falling against his own.<p>

The man stroked her naked shoulder softly with his fingertips, barely touching the creamy flesh in fear that his rough hands would rouse her from sleep. Her skin looked so pale beneath his own, so soft compared to his coarse and scarred hands that he drew back in something akin to shame. Gannicus looked up and met Alexa's eyes, his lips turning up in a gentle smile, but she moved and rolled on her back away from him. All at once, the floor was hard and cold and uncomfortable, and the dull ache between her legs had become a constant throb.

She sat up, trying to cover herself with the man's discarded cloak that was wrapped between them. Gannicus reached out to touch her, but stopped just short, and Alexa looked over her shoulder at the still lying man. The rising cacophony of the rebels outside pounded in her head, and the magic haze of the night passed had been blown away, leaving only painful reality in its wake.

"I thought it a dream," the girl said, and turned from Gannicus again. "I wish it were."

"What prompts such a change of heart?"

The sound of steel against steel rang in Alexa's ears. Light shone in from the empty doorway, showing the dust that gathered in the air. Someone passed the open entrance of the room, but did not bother to glance inside. "What will you do with me?" she asked instead of answering his question.

Gannicus rose and placed his hands on the girl's shoulders. "Tell me," he said. He nuzzled his nose in the crook of her neck and kissed the skin there, but she was impassive to his efforts. "Tell me what you want."

She pressed the cloak tighter to her breast. "I want to go home."

The man stood swiftly, with a sigh that could have been a laugh, and the girl watched him all the while, her eyes trained on him as he picked up a cup and amphora from the ground. He poured himself a drink - water, Alexa noted - and Gannicus swallowed it with obvious disappointment.

Despite herself, her gaze roamed over the lean length of her companion's form. He was still nude, and unabashed of his state of undress. _Gods, _there was no doubt in her mind how she let herself be tempted so easily, but she was still ashamed. The gladiator turned and caught Alexa staring, and the girl averted her eyes to the floor before him. He pulled on his breeches, for her sake, with an annoyed growl that she could hear from across the room.

"You are no longer a child," he said, "and your life is your own. I will take you back to Capua, back to the praetor, and whatever happens to you will no longer be my concern."

Alexa got to her feet, the man's cloak wrapped awkwardly around her body, her bare feet dirty and hair a tangled nest, but she attempted to look as dignified as she could. "My life has never been any of your concern," the Roman replied. "And I would be safe were it not for a drunken outlaw stealing me away!"

Gannicus threw his head back and laughed. The sound was a cruel bass in Alexa's ears, and his face mockingly beautiful as he stared at her. "Better you be safe in the presence of a _drunken outlaw_ than risk death putting your faith in a brother who doesn't care if you live or die!"

The girl wrapped the cloak around her more closely. "Why would you -"

"Lucretia thought it to be so," the man said as he took a step closer to Alexa. "Was she false in her belief?"

Alexa did not answer him at first, but turned her face away from the man so he could not see her eyes growing moist. He had seen her cry once, it would happen no more. He was right, she was no longer a child, and all the illusions of life that she carried before have been revealed as false.

"He would kill me," she admitted, "if I got in his way. But they would kill me," the girl motioned toward the entrance of the room, "for no reason other than I am a Roman. The men you saved from the arena were in my brother's villa, listening as one of their own was butchered. And I was there. They'll kill me for that, as well."

Gannicus walked closer to Alexa as she spoke, slowly, his eyes emotionless but locked on hers. "I told you I would keep you safe," he said as he handed her his cup, still filled with water. "And the words I speak are not false."

She nodded her head, to tired to argue, and drank from the cup, not knowing until then how thirsty she truly was. And_ hungry_, too. When had she last eaten? She licked the last drops from her lips and looked back at the man who hadn't moved from his spot before her.

"May I see Ilithyia?" she asked, and only then did he avert his eyes, brows furrowed and lips pursed. The girl's heart fluttered as she held the empty cup to her beating chest. "She is dead?"

"I don't know," he replied flatly. "I'll see to it. And I will find you some clothes."

-x-X-x-

Alexa was thankful that they did not have to leave the safety of the temple as they set on their task, but still, Gannicus cautioned her to stay close to his side. He had left her for only moments in the room all alone, and every noise was the sound of someone coming for her. She could only breathe again when he reappeared, a bundle of brown fabric in hand.

The clothes were coarse and uncomfortable, revealing in their cut, and Alexa was sure she looked just like one of the rebel slaves. She was a mess of tangled hair and bruised flesh. Dirt was caked under her nails and clouded her skin. If the others had not witnessed her entrance, they would never know that she was not one of them.

But it seemed as though Ilithyia had fared worse.

"Have you come to any harm?" Alexa asked as she bent down beside the woman. She picked up the elder's bound wrists in her hands and rubbed softly at the raw flesh.

"I told him that - that the child is his," Ilithyia told the girl. "So far he has shown me mercy."

Alexa looked at the woman curiously. "The man is dim. What does he imagine, that the gods planted his seed in your belly?"

Ilithyia held her companion's hand in hers. The blond's grip was tight but shaking, and even in the dark room, Alexa could see that tears were wet in her eyes. "I laid with Spartacus. Lucretia, she -"

"So the child is not of my blood?" the girl asked. The older woman shook her head, and Alexa stood, pulling her hand from the other's grasp. She looked down at the captive heavy with child - _Spartacus' child_ - and felt nothing. The babe was the only link that she had to her brother's wife, a woman who she cared not for at all besides. Alexa turned to walk toward Gannicus, but looked over her shoulder before she left, stealing one last glance at who she was leaving behind. "Then we have no words."

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><p><strong>Don't hate me. Don't hate me. Don't hate me. I love you all!<strong>


	10. bella gerant alii

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 10: _bella gerant alii _

"Let Others Wage War"

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><p>The night was cooler than most. The moon was whole and high and bright and the broken ruins of the temple looked almost beautiful under its light. A mass of people have gathered at the foot of the stairway, and Spartacus had spoken to them from above. He is for Atella, he explained, to set terms. To gather weapons in return of the praetor's wife.<p>

A woman's voice rose amongst the others. "It is madness to place trust in words of Glaber."

Spartacus turned back to the crowd and they silenced themselves in anticipation of his response. Alexa took a step toward the man, toward the rebels. "She speaks the truth," she managed to say, and Gannicus grabbed her elbow to still her.

"You believe he would not honor his word?" Spartacus asked her. Alexa believed him sincere in his inquiry and want of her assessment.

"I would not expect it of him."

The same woman from the crowd moved forward. "And why should we trust _you_?"

Alexa tensed, wary of the many eyes upon her, but Gannicus held her arm tighter and that gave her the courage to speak. "I will not taint otherwise pure words by falsly saying that I stand on one side of the cause or the other, for I do not." A quiet murmur swept through the camp. "I stand with those who have lost their lives for the transgressions of others, both Roman and rebel. I would have the fighting end."

She walked a few more paces, Gannicus ever watchful by her side. She wondered who this woman was that she was becoming, who spoke of her own blood in ill terms. Who freely gave counsel to a rebel cause. "Your meeting with Gaius will do more harm than good," she continued, "regardless of intent."

"Plans are already set into motion," Spartacus told her. "We must not back down now." The crowd cheered in agreeance, and Alexa nodded her head. She could speak a thousand words, she knew, and none would deter this iron-willed man from his path. "But you will come with us and we will deliver you back to Glaber. A sign of good faith."

-x-X-x-

"You're quiet."

Alexa stopped her motions, letting the dirty rag linger on her shoulder before turning her head and agreeing. "Yes."

The girl scrubbed at her flesh until it was red and raw. Filth had covered her like a second skin and she was grateful for the allowance to bathe, no matter how little the water or ragged the cloth. She did not even mind that Gannicus was in the same room, washing himself as she did. She could her movements from behind her, the gentle sigh as he bent, the sound of his hand dipping into the water. It was a relaxing melody until he decided to speak.

"It's not for a Roman to be short of words," he said.

The girl turned, unabashed at her state of undress. The gladiator has seen her nude, has been inside her, and would never see her again. Why should it worry her now? "Do I still look a Roman?" she asked.

Gannicus looked over his shoulder, saw her bare display, and faced her before he gave his response. "You look a woman," he told her. "One who would be pleased with neither Roman nor rebel for answer."

Alexa smiled softly. Sadly. She shook her head and tightened the hold on the cloth in her hand. "My brother killed the man I was to marry," she told him, "in front of me. Ilithyia carries Spartacus' child - the man her husband despises the most. Lucretia hides murderous intention behind smiles. Everyone I know is deceitful." She dropped her eyes to the floor. "Even I conspire with those who would destroy Gaius."

"We all choose our own path," Gannicus said. "We choose what to believe. We choose _who_ to believe. Each action is our own." He dropped his rag in the bucket of dirty water, but made no move to dress. "Soon you must choose where you stand."

"And you? Have you chosen? You stay," Alexa recounted, "but it is for a cause you do not believe in." When her companion made no reply, she took a tenative step forward. The night wind chilled her, patterning goosebumps on her moist and near-clean flesh. She wondered if the man in front of her could feel it as well - the frigid air in the scant space between them that felt like leagues despite their true distance in the small stone room. "Do not go," she continued, a bit quieter than before. "Let others wage war. You are a free man, you could leave this place without bloodshed."

"And what would I do?" Gannicus asked her. He tilted his head to the side, his drying hair curling into golden ringlets around his shoulders, and waited for her repsonse.

She wrung the cloth between her hands. "Whatever you desire," she replied in all sincerity, because if there was truly anyone who could do anything, it was Gannicus. Gannicus the gladiatior, the champion, the god. Gannicus who stood victor in a ring of fire. Gannicus who was freed on behest of a demanding crowd. Gannicus who sauntering towards her, golden and wet and _naked_.

"I made my choice when I took you and Glaber's wife," he replied. "There is no going back." He was close enough to the girl that he could reach out and touch her. She _wanted_ him to touch her. It was a mystery to her what the morning sun would bring. They would be for Atella in a few hours time and she would be whisked away back to Rome if all goes to plan, and she wondered whether that was what she truly wanted anymore.

Alexa closed the distanced between them. She held the gladiator's hands in her own, rubbing circles in the back of them with her thumbs. "You risk your life on a fool's errand."

The man brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them softly. "Why do you care?" he asked. "Tell me the truth."

"Gannicus, if you die, then I too am dead."

He stared at the girl for an instant, then released her hands and walked back over to his clothes. "Then pray to the gods I do not fall."

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><p><strong>Not much action in this installment, but hopefully you liked it! <strong>


	11. serva me, servabo te

**Release Life's Rapture**

Chapter 11: _serva me, servabo te_

"Save Me and I Will Save You"

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><p>The moments before dawn were quiet and barren, the newness of the abandoned city unnerving as Alexa and Gannicus stood waiting amid the hollow of two buildings. The man claimed the spot in front, between the open street and Alexa, as fingers twitched on the rough and worn hilt of his sword.<p>

His other hand kept the girl close, his palm wrapped around her bound wrists, his thumb idling against the chafed skin that had been rubbed raw by bindings too many times in too few days. She had eased into him during the lingering minutes, her cheek pressed against a damp shoulder blade, eyes resting close until the inevitable presented itself.

"It's not too late," she whispered into his skin.

Gannicus peered over his shoulder, but didn't reply. His eyes were hard, and the look frightened Alexa, but she pushed forward. "You are a brave man, Gannicus, but destined to die well before your time if you proceed on this path."

The gladiator now turned around, the purple dawn light surrounding the two and holding them there, silent as they stared at one another. Alexa brought her hands up and placed them on his chest, aware of the fast pound of his heart beneath his otherwise inscrutable demeanor. "Gannicus -"

He released the hold on Alexa's wrists, and buried his hands in the nape of the girl's hair. He pulled, gently, making her bare her throat to him. He looked down at the soft column of flesh, stained lavender in the not quite risen sun. He knew well the feeling of her skin underneath the press of his lips, but not well enough. He wanted more time – time to explore and discover, to touch the girl in every place he could reach and then do it again. He wanted to hear her speak. To hear her laugh. Never has she done so in his presence.

But he would not run.

"I stay the course," he told her, words soft and without judgment. "You have yet to choose which road to take."

Alexa tried to look away, but the fingers in her hair were unyielding, and one hand drifted across her jaw, soft and slow and sweet, the gladiator's thumb caught at the corner of her mouth, daring her to move, daring her to stay, to speak, to do anything but stand there wide eyed and so beautiful, looking nothing like the girl he first met in the market, but everything like her just the same.

"I want you to choose this," Gannicus finally let himself admit. "Choose this and stay and do what the fuck you truly want."

Alexa shook her head and tried to push away, half-heartedly, but Gannicus wrapped an arm around her waist, pressing them even closer. His body was warm and hard and maybe it is what she wanted but - "Spartacus has already given me away."

The gladiator's other hand found her hip, and they were flush against each other from knee to thigh to stomach, only Alexa's bound hands between their chests parting them. Gannicus bent down, his lips hovering above the girl's, so close that when he spoke, the words fluttered across her own. "If you want this," he said, "I will see it done."

"Yes," she sighed, eyes heavy-lidded and half closed, fingertips sinking into Gannicus' smooth skin. "Yes, I want this."

Gannicus backed her into the wall, harder than intended, crushed her between his firm weight and the rough stone, and kissed her so fierce that her whole body felt aflame. She felt his cock beneath his clothes, already hard and thick and so tempting, so she moved her hips to press against it.

"You are no longer a slave," he growled, lips barely leaving hers. "Not to the Praetor, nor Rome, nor anything else that would bind you." He caught her arms, tugging at the restraints, and kissed each wrist in apology. "A necessity," he had to explain, "for now."

Her hands pulled above her head, both wrists firmly in Gannicus' grasp, his lips against her throat, and, _oh gods_, his other hand was spreading her thighs. His fingertips were coarse and scratched against her bare skin, but they felt far better than even the finest silk in all of Rome.

And so skilled, when they reached her cunt, sliding in so slow and slick, until Alexa could do nothing but throw her head back in a silent scream. Gannicus let go of the girl's wrists and pressed his fingers to her lips, pushing two into her mouth that she could suck on while he fucked her with his other hand.

Alexa's bound wrists caught behind his neck, pulling him down, pulling him closer. Doing anything to get flesh against more warm flesh, she arched and bowed, pressing her chest against his and lifting her leg to tighten around his thigh. A few strokes, that's all it took, and the heel of Gannicus' palm hard against her clit.

_Spartacus!_

Her brother's voice rang throughout the city, down the nearly abandoned streets, and found itself echoing through the hidden path where Alexa and Gannicus were locked in tight embrace.

"Come for me, Alexa," he commanded, one hand over her mouth, the other in her cunt, fingers buried deep inside of her. And she did, squeezing her eyes shut tight as Gannicus kissed her blushing cheek at the edge of his fingertips. She gasped and groaned, stilling the roll of her hips when the sensation became too much and pulled back, only to have Gannicus move with her.

He slid his fingers from her, circling her clit one more time just to watch her jump and gasp, all while kissing her so sweet that she could hardly stand on her own. "They are waiting," Gannicus whispered, smearing the words across her jaw. She nodded and inhaled, catching the breath that Gannicus had stolen from her and attempting to still herself on knees too weak to move with much purpose.

Gannicus gently brought the girl's arms up and over his head and held her wrists in his hand. He kissed her once more, almost chaste, and led her out into the open, revealing themselves to the men already gathered in tense congregation.

Alexa wondered how she must look, wearing slave garb that covered little, her jewels abandoned somewhere in the wood, and her hair in tangles. Her skin was hot, her body blushing rose and just coming down from the feeling of Gannicus' fingers inside of her. Alexa's eyes fluttered close at the thought.

Would her brother know her for what she truly was?

"Dear sister," Gaius said, casting his gaze over her once and then again, looking at her as though she was tarnished. "Have you come to any harm?"

"No, Gaius, I am well enough."

"And Ilithyia?" the praetor asked, turning his attention to Spartacus. "The old man claims you have her." Alexa began to speak, but Gannicus pulled her closer, letting the pad of his thumb linger against her wrist.

Spartacus removed a scrap of cloth from his belt. "Pulled from her dress, with her scent yet upon it."

Gaiu took the cloth and held it to his nose, inhaling the familiar scent. "A thing easily taken from a body robbed of life."

Alexa stood uneasy, shifting from one foot, then to another, her pulse hammering under Gannicus' thumb, so much that the man had to whisper words of comfort to her. "Patience, Alexa," he muttered under his breath. "I will see it done."

Her head jerked toward her brother when he called her name. "Come, you will return to Rome." But Gannicus held fast to her wrists, not letting her go even as his other hand came to rest on the hilt of his sword.

"Bring the wagon forward," Spartacus said, "then you may have the girl."

Gaius motioned to the man directing the cart. "I hold many regrets, since first we laid eyes on each other a lifetime ago. I pray that this decision does not stand amongst them."

Alexa looked up at her captor, but his eyes were on the praetor. "Gannicus?" she whispered, but the man said nothing, only pushed her back, toward the alley where the others stood in wait, and drew his sword as the cart door was opened.

Alexa spun unbalanced, breath knocked from lungs as she fell and landed on her knees without the use of her hands to catch her fall."Grab the girl!" she heard her brother yell. "Grab her!"

Her head was wrenched back by her hair and all she saw was the shadow of a man blocking the daybreaking sun before blood rained down upon her upturned face. A pair of hands grabbed Alexa's arms and hauled her up to her feet, pressing her into their side and almost dragging her away from the fight, away from Gannicus, away from Gaius, and away from Rome forever.


End file.
